A Step in the Right Direction
by Abarero
Summary: Pre-Series. Michel tries to pick out a gift for Klan's birthday. Michel/Klan.


**Title:** A Step in the Right Direction  
**Genre:** General/Humor/Romance  
**Rating:** G  
**Pairing:** Michel/Klan  
**Summary:** Pre-Series. Michel tries to pick out a gift for Klan's birthday.  
**Notes:** Written for **lacus**

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Klan was mad at him again. He wasn't sure what he'd done, failed to do or said; but something during their training drill that afternoon had set her off. And whatever it was must have been bad, because she hadn't just verbally told him off. Oh no, Klan wasn't about to let him get off that easily; instead she had picked up his valkyrie and tossed it as if it were a child's toy, leaving him in an upside down heap with a bruise on his temple.

Sulking back to his bunk, Michel started as an icepack came into his peripheral vision.

"Here."

Turning around, he saw Bobby holding the pack out to him.

"Thanks," he murmured, taking it and pressing it to his forehead.

"Now, what did you do to earn that lovely welt?" Bobby queried.

"No idea."

He cringed as the cold of the pack touched the swelling red patch of skin.

"Tsk tsk tsk. Oh I'm sure you know, even if you don't think you do." Placing a reassuring hand on his shoulder, Bobby steered the young pilot to a chair and rummaged in a drawer for some gauze. "Would it perchance have something to do with her birthday tomorrow?"

Michel blinked. "Well...I did mention I hadn't gotten her anything yet."

"Aha, there you go. She probably wants you to get her something special and figures if you're shopping last minute that you'll not put any heart into it. Oh Michel, as a wooer of women you really should know better."

"You know, coming from you...Ouch!" Michel winced as Bobby put salve on the wound.

"Oh you men just don't know how it breaks our hearts when you get just any ole gift."

Defiance flickering in his eyes, the younger man sat up straight. "Come on, Bobby. You know I can get her a good gift. Like perfume or..."

"Perfume. What a subtle way to tell her she smells unpleasant."

"...what?"

Securing the gauze to his forehead with medical tape, Bobby winked as he tapped him on the nose.

"Looks like you are coming shopping with me, Michel. Can't have you breaking Klan's heart with your bad taste."

Klan knew he was up to something. She'd seen him skulking about the hallways, talking at length in whispers to Ozma and Luca and asking the other ladies of the SMS a quick question in undertone. And if that wasn't odd enough, he met up with Bobby and seemed to be making arrangements to leave the compound with him.

Highly suspicious of what he was up to, Klan decided right then and there to follow the two at a distance, just to make sure he wasn't doing anything too dangerous. Or at least, that's what she told herself.

"Going somewhere?" Nene asked as she noticed the micronized captain watching the two men leave.

"What? No, I'm not watching them. I just…" She blushed, knowing her protests were in vain. Nene knew her better than this.

Patting her on the shoulder, the pink haired Zentradi smiled. "Well, if you'd like an excuse to follow them, I think I can help."

Klan lit up at that. "You know where they're going?"

Nene nodded. "I think so."

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Much like Nene had predicted, their two SMS teammates arrived at the mall on Island 3. Wanting to keep a low profile, the two girls had taken to sitting at a café table and watching the two men scurry about from store to store. It was obvious to Klan why they were there and her irritation with Michel was starting to grow.

As Nene handed over an ice cream cone to her, the blue haired girl pouted.

"I am I really so hard to buy for that he needs to ask Bobby along?"

Nene smiled. "He probably just wants to make sure he gets you something you like. Considering his gifts in previous years…"

Klan scowled at the memory. Michel's list of gifts to her could double as a list of items _not_ to give a girl.

_You'd think that as my childhood friend, he would know me better,_ Klan thought to herself as she licked her ice cream, _Then again, maybe that's why he gets me gifts like that. I'm just another friend, nothing special._

"Aha, look at that," Nene pointed out, her finger directed at a store on the upper level.

Michel was blushing bright red and Bobby was laughing at him, the reason as obvious as the large mannequin adorned only in lingerie standing behind them.

Klan's face flushed redder than Michel's. "He-he wouldn't dare! That pervert!"

Nene laughed. "It would be an improvement from the teddy bear last year."

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"Oh come on Michel, it would be better than that teddy bear," Bobby said with a laugh.

Horrified, yet unable to tear his eyes away from the Zentradi-sized lingerie, Michel replied, "Okay, so I made one mistake."

"No, you've made a mistake every year since I've known you. It's like you're trying to give her a gift that doesn't mean anything."

Michel fell silent at that and Bobby sighed, "Look Michel, I'm not asking you to propose or to give her something intimate, but she deserves something special. She's a special lady, wouldn't you say?"

A wry smile tugged at his lips. "Yeah, she's a special lady, that's for certain."

"So, as someone who's known her since you were children- what's one thing you know she's always wanted?"

A thoughtful expression passed over Michel's face. "Island 8…"

"Island 8? The winter island?"

Michel nodded, a grin creeping onto his face. "She always joked when we were kids that if we lived on Island 8, she would bury me in a snow drift and leave me there to freeze."

Bobby crossed his arms and gave him a knowing look. "You've been holding out on me, Michel. I think you know exactly what to get Klan now, don't you?"

He shook his head. "But since she's been spying on us, we could always…"

The helmsman chuckled. "You're a cruel man."

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Klan and Nene watched the two go in and out of stores the rest of the day, each time with more and more packages in their arms as they emerged. Completely baffled as to what they were up to, the two girls paid for their ice cream and hastily left before they were spotted.

As they parted company for the evening, Nene reassured Klan that whatever the two were doing, surely Bobby would have saved her from another disaster gift.

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The next day, the SMS gathered at the Nyan-Nyan restaurant where Major Ozma's sister worked. Giving Klan a place of honor at the head of the table, her friends and teammates handed over their gifts to her warm smiles of appreciation.

As for Michel- he was late, something that Klan had acutely noticed. When he finally showed up near the end of the party carrying an armful of packages, all eyes turned to him.

"Sorry, sorry I'm late. Klan, you would never imagine how long it takes to wrap all these things!"

Now worried that Michel had gone for quantity over quality, Klan stood to her full, albeit minimal, height atop her chair and plucked a piece of tape from the pilot's hair.

"I'm surprised they don't look like lumps of paper given your wrapping skills."

He gave her a warm smile, but she couldn't read anything from it. Was he worried she wouldn't like his gift? Confident that his selection would keep him from getting pummeled by her again? Or was it something else she noticed flickering behind his eyes as he laid out the boxes in front of her.

"There. You don't have to look at my horrid wrapping any longer. Go ahead; rip into them like a kid at Christmas."

She shot him a glare for the 'kid' comment, but obliged.

The first package was a tacky snowsuit, which earned Michel a "What the hell are you thinking?" look from her. This was followed by a box that contained a matching scarf and gloves. Still looking at Michel as if he'd lost it, she opened the last box.

Inside was flannel underwear.

Resisting the rising surge of anger, she glared up at him.

"Is this some kind of joke?"

Michel blinked, all innocence and not a sign of remorse. "Nope. But you haven't opened the last part, so don't hate me just yet."

Reaching into his back pocket, he pulled out a small envelope and handed it over to her.

"Happy Birthday, Klan."

She started at the sudden affection and warmth in his voice.

Her fingers hastily tore open the envelope and pulled out two tickets inside. They were for a ski resort on Island 8 that Klan distinctly remembered teasing Michel about when they were kids. Unable to help herself, she jumped up and hugged him.

"You idiot."

Michel smiled. "I take it that you like it then?"

Klan buried her bright red face into his chest so no one else would see; "Only you could give me flannel underwear and somehow manage to make me _not_ want to kill you."

He brought his arms up and returned the hug. "I try my best, Klan."

And as the two broke apart with awkward smiles and quickly started bickering as if nothing had changed between them, everyone there knew that Michel had finally taken one step in the right direction.


End file.
